Not only is Virginia heading for a fiscal crisis, but it may be heading for a constitutional crisis as well. The Senate and House of Delegates managed to get budget talks back on track last week, but negotiations derailed faster than an Amtrak train in a snow storm. Judging by the exchange of letters released to the public, relations between the Senate and House budget conferees are as acrimonious as they’ve ever been.
There are 24 days left to patch together a budget before the fiscal year ends. Then the state enters a constitutional crisis. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine says he has the authority to keep basic state services running without a budget. But Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell says he does not. (Read the Washington Post coverage.)
Meanwhile, senior state lawmakers are due to visit bond rating agencies in New York. Virginia may be the best managed state in the country when the politicians are actually speaking to one another, but it’s not looking terribly well managed right now. Only two years ago, on the heels of the last recession, Virginia’s political class was consternated that the state’s AAA bond rating might be cut. Wouldn’t it be ironic if, despite the 2004 tax increase and a $1.5 billion surplus, the rating agencies cut Virginia’s bond rating anyway this year?